Openings

From CYPHYNETS

Contents 1 Application Procedure 2 YEAR-AROUND OPEN POSITIONS 2.1 Within SSE/LUMS 2.2 Outside LUMS 3 LIMITED-TIME OPENINGS 3.1 Winter/Spring Internships in Robotics [OPEN 15/12/12] 3.2 Research Assistantships 1M: Applied Spectral Graph Theory [OPEN. 12/12/12] 3.3 Research Assistantship 3W: UQ of Water Management under Climate Change [OPEN 1/12/12] 3.4 Student RA Position 1W. Control and Estimation of Irrigation Canal Networks [OPEN 1/9/2012] 3.5 Student RA Position 1R. Autonomous Terrain Exploration in Off Road Robotic Vehicles [CLOSED 1/11/12] 3.6 Student RA Position 2R. Biomechanics of Fish Swimming [CLOSED 1/10/12] 3.7 Student RA Position 2W. Data Assimilation Methods for Hydrosystems [CLOSED 1/10/2012] 3.8 New Openings on Water Projects [CLOSED. 1/4/2012] 3.9 Postdoctoral Research Fellowship [CLOSED]

Application Procedure

For all positions, send your CV/credentials directly to the Lab Director.

YEAR-AROUND OPEN POSITIONS

We are always looking for good people in several areas of electrical engineering, physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and computer science. Before sending your CV, please read this page.

Within SSE/LUMS

• Math/CS/CMPE/EE grad students. If you are a graduate student at LUMS, and looking for a supervisor, we normally require that you first take a formal course, reading course or an informal series of discussions with the lab director for one semester. We are always looking for good graduate students in all majors.
• Internships. If you are an SSE undergrad (in any major), we occasionally announce positions in my lab. Please stay tuned for announcements.
• Senior Projects. Please start a discussion with us, at least 2 or 3 months before the start of your project semester. It is best to first take one or two formal courses beforehand.

Outside LUMS

• Postdoctoral researchers. Fresh PhDs with training in experimental robotics, quantum information, information theory, applied mathematics, control theory, optimization methods are specially welcome to apply.
• New graduate students in EE and CS. We are actively looking for new students for the next admission cycle at LUMS. In addition to applying at LUMS, please let us know about yourself and if interested we can look into funding your degree by giving you an RA/TA.
• Full-time Research assistants/research associates. Only in exceptional cases do we hire full time research assistants. Please do not engage us just to kill time while waiting to go abroad.
• Lab Engineers. Good hands-on knowledge of one or more areas from embedded systems, mechatronics, industrial control, digital control, device driver programming, sensors are always welcome to apply. Such positions are rarer than student RA-ships but do open up occasionally.
• Technicians/Skilled Persons. Hands on knowledge of mechanical design and assembly, drafting, knowledge of Pro-E, AutoCAD.

LIMITED-TIME OPENINGS

Winter/Spring Internships in Robotics [OPEN 15/12/12]

Student internships are available for LUMS EE or CS Junior students to participate in robotics related activities at CYPHYNETS. The 3-week internship (Dec 31, 2012-Jan 18, 2013) will entail supervised projects listed below.

• Comparative volumetric measurements of mud piles using RGB-D camera, laser scanner and stereo cameras.
• Development of a power-dependent range sensing model for RGB-D camer pairs.
• Porting of ROS on an android smart phone.

Ideal candidates must have taken courses related to data structures, microprocessors/interfacing and AI. Preference will be given to students with significant experience in developing independent projects (not necessarily in robotics) and with a desire to continue the work at CYPHYNETS for their FYP.

Please send your CV's to cyphynets [at] gmail [dot] com with subject Robotics Internships 2013-14. Deadline to apply is Dec 24th, 2012. Short listed candidates will be called for an assignment based test.

Research Assistantships 1M: Applied Spectral Graph Theory [OPEN. 12/12/12]

Two student research assistantships are available for an HEC sponsored research project on the applications of Spectral Graph Theory to growth models and reconfigurable robotics. Ability to read, interpret and reason through mathematical proofs is a must. The project requires familiarity with graph theory concepts and linear algebra. Computational skills in Mathematica, MATLAB, MAPLE or some other computer algebra package is highly desirable. The selected student will work under the supervision of Principal Investigator Dr FM Bhatti (Mathematics, LUMS) and Co-Principal Investigator Dr Abubakr Muhammad (Electrical Engineering, LUMS).

A salary of 15k/month for a 20 hr/week commitment will be offered. MS students in computer science or mathematics are specially encouraged to apply. Registered graduate students from other institutes in Pakistan are also eligible to apply.

Please send your CV and supporting documents before Jan 15th, 2013.

Research Assistantship 3W: UQ of Water Management under Climate Change [OPEN 1/12/12]

We are looking for a first year LUMS graduate student (any discipline) with a bachelors in engineering for our upcoming project:

Uncertainty Quantification of Water Management Strategies under Climate Change

In this project, we tackle the quantification of uncertainties associated with running an ensemble of models describing a climate change scenario and its implications on suggesting policy recommendations. The particular model we tackle is that of distribution of water to various stakeholders while ensuring equity and legal entitlements under physical scarcity. This problem is posed at every level of decision making in the Indus basin, from interpretations of Indus-water treaty and implementation of provincial accords to rotational sharing of water among farmers using classical warabandi. The major source of uncertainty in the model is due to the fluctuations in the source. One can think of the predicted flash floods and impulsive draught-like conditions due to climate change in the Indus basin. While every accord, treaty and institutional control mechanism caters for distribution strategy under normal conditions, most are silent on ways to tackle impulsive situations of temporary excess and sharply increasing scarcity. Since such impulsive events are predicted to rise due to climate change, an analytical framework is needed to give policy makers explicit guidelines. Most importantly, the basin managers need to understand what to expect. While it is true that climate change will bring unprecedented levels of uncertainty in system operation, there are still ways to quantify and bound it. This too is provided by the same theoretical limits of statistical estimation that limit our predictions.

The student will first pose the water distribution problem as an optimization question and recognize that the same problem appears in many transportation problems, connectivity to renewable energy sources, routing in communication networks and other areas of engineering and computational science. After this, uncertainty will be introduced at the sources using statistical models of fluctuations that resemble climate change scenarios for the Indus basin from published literature. The student will then use advanced tools of systems theory (e.g. H-infinity Filtering) to find bounds of fluctuation in inequity as well as maximal deviations in seasonal predictions. Based on the results, the supervisors will help the student formulate policy recommendations to basin managers for incorporating such uncertainties in a rotational distribution system or a legal framework for water distribution.

Duration of work is January 15, 2013 to December 15, 2013. Deliverables include

• MS Thesis.
• A research paper of publishable quality at an international conference.

Beginning MS student in EE/CMPE/CS/Econ with a bachelors degree in engineering are ideal. Strong background in probability and stochastic process; eagerness to learn optimization techniques and work in interdisciplinary areas. Preference will be given to candidates who have taken a graduate course on probability with some exposure to operations research. Tuition waiver up to Rs 100,000/- for spring semester (conditional on registration of MS thesis hours). Stipend @ Rs 15,000 / month in summer and fall (total 6 months).

Student RA Position 1W. Control and Estimation of Irrigation Canal Networks [OPEN 1/9/2012]

Topics. Feedback control systems, embedded systems Nature of work. Theoretical development; simulation; field tests Background. BS in engineering with experience in control systems

Student RA Position 1R. Autonomous Terrain Exploration in Off Road Robotic Vehicles [CLOSED 1/11/12]

Topics. Robotics, computer vision, machine learning Nature of work. Algorithm development in ROS, OpenCV, PCL framework; field trials on robots Background. BS in EE, CS or mechatronics with exposure to robotics; extensive experience in LINUX, C++. Collaboration. Robotics Research Lab, TU Kaiserslautern, Germany

Student RA Position 2R. Biomechanics of Fish Swimming [CLOSED 1/10/12]

Topics. Biomechanics, control systems, geometric mechanics Nature of work. Theoretical study; simulation development Background. BS in EE, CS or mechatronics with strong exposure to robotics Misc. Support for tuition may be available.

Student RA Position 2W. Data Assimilation Methods for Hydrosystems [CLOSED 1/10/2012]

Topics. Systems theory, signal processing, applied mathematics Nature of work. Theoretical development; simulation, software development Background. BS in engineering / CS with strong aptitude for applied mathematics & computation.

New Openings on Water Projects [CLOSED. 1/4/2012]

Several openings for Electronics Engineers, Software Engineers, Numerical Analysts, Lab Technicians and Student RAs for two new projects in water with IWMI and EPA are being announced. Please see details here.

Postdoctoral Research Fellowship [CLOSED]

• A 1-year postdoctoral research fellowship is available at CYPHYNETS on underwater acoustic signal processing. Details can be read here.